Theatre Review: Kiss of the Spider Woman

The Menier Chocolate Factory is frequently the home of colourful musicals, but it’s currently transformed into a cheerless Argentinian prison in Laurie Sansom’s affecting revival of Manuel Puig’s 1983 stage adaptation of his 1976 novel (previously turned into both a film and a musical) here in a new version by Jose Rivera and Allan Baker.

Sharing a squalid cell are political activist Valentin and Molina (convicted of “gross indecency” ), a gay window dresser with a love of film who keeps his sullen companion entertained with his own embellished versions of exotic movie plots, transporting them both briefly to another world outside the prison walls. As he speaks, grainy silhouettes are projected on the wraparound corridor walkways of Jon Bausor’s set.

They’re unlikely cellmates but, as the weeks pass, the relationship between the gruff, straight revolutionary and the sensitive Molina becomes one of genuine affection and more.

The production takes a while to grip but, once it does, it’s both compelling and liberating. And the performances from the two inmates are first rate. Declan Bennett (unrecognisable from his stint in the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar last year) convinces as a serious-minded man brought low by torture and a repressive regime’s dirty tricks. And Samuel Barnett (who first came to attention fifteen years ago as the most sensitive pupil in The History Boys) is even betteras the compromised Molina, tender, torn and with a vivid imagination.